The 'Knowledge Of London'
The Knowledge
Taxi drivers in London undergo a demanding and arduous
testing of their knowledge of the city, its daily traffic
patterns and the fastest routes between locations. Estimates
suggest that gathering the basic understanding needed to
acquire The Knowledge involves a full-time year of study,
absorbing the information provided by street maps and
travelling around the city itself.
The result is that drivers of official London Hackney Cabs
are renowned for their detailed and intimate knowledge of
London's streets and attractions. Strangely enough, scientific
study has shown that possession and expansion of The Knowledge
increases the size of the anterior and posterior hippocampi of
the brain - the area that handles spatial memory and spatial
navigation.
Compared with baseline controls and inexperienced cabbies,
long-serving taxi drivers possessed considerable more developed
hippocampi.
General Articles About 'The Knowledge'
The Knowledge in London from WhyGo London
London’s black cab drivers have a reputation for knowing
their stuff when it comes to getting their customers to the
correct location by the shortest route. This is no bluff, to
become a London taxi driver you have to pass a test known as
The Knowledge and it normally takes between 2.5-3.5 years for
people to complete the course.
Pretty much anyone can be a minicab driver, driving an
ordinary car with a taxi sign on top but to drive one of the
famous black cabs you have to put a lot of time and effort in
at your own expense to earn the required badge.
Applicants first have to be 21 and apply to the Public
Carriage Office (PCO) to see if they are eligible. If you want
to be licenced to drive in all of London you study for a Green
Badge, if you only want to cover the outer suburbs you go for a
Yellow Badge.
Candidates then start learning a blue book of 320 different
routes through London. If you’re visiting London, at some point
you’ll see guys on motorscooters with a clipboard and paper
attached to the handle bars cruising around streets and
checking everything out, these are potential cabbies trying to
learn the streets. Once they’ve learned the first 80 they have
a written test at the PCO, then learn the other 240, which are
tested by way of interview with an examiner, and locations of
hotels, stations, offices and any significant places.
When they’ve got through the 320 central London routes they
start learning the suburban ones and after that take a taxi
driving test in London. Finally they take another written and
map test.
Black cab drivers in London make pretty good money but it
requires some dedication and a lot of hours to qualify.
http://www.londonlogue.com/public-transport/the-knowledge-in-london.html
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